NOTABLE QUOTES: GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE U.S. OPEN (SUNDAY PRIMETIME)

Golf Channel Notable QuotesGolf Central Live From the U.S. OpenSunday, June 19, 2016 (primetime show)
Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa.

On Dustin Johnson (4-under, winner)Frank Nobilo – “The goal this week was the find the best player in the field. I think they got that. What happened today could have been disastrous… The trophy is certainly in the right hands… It takes an awful lot to beat that guy. It took the greens last year to deprive him of the trophy and obviously an extremely talented Jordan Spieth. And today it nearly took all of the USGA to take that trophy out of his hands.”Brandel Chamblee – “We are all so quick to indict based on wins and losses… I have said and I’ll continue to say that he’s going nowhere but to the Hall of Fame. The talent shows it. The ability to overcome these hurdles shows it… He has shown obvious skills and all the integrity you could ever ask of a major champion.”David Duval – “It’s a testament to all the things he’s gone through and learned. People talk of ghosts and demons in his past from major championships. Or you can look at it as great experiences he put together and he used them all today in winning his U.S. Open.”

On the one-stroke penalty enforced on Dustin Johnson at the par-4 5th holeChamblee – “This is an appetizer of things to come. In a great way as it relates to Dustin Johnson, and in an awful way as it relates to the U.S. Open. We’ve reached a time when the speed of the greens and old school designs in U.S. Opens are no longer compatible… When you go to old school designs and you want to have this contest of speed, they’re incompatible… The chance of a controversial-free U.S. Open when you’re playing venues of this nature is gone.”Duval – “For him to have to play under a cloud for seven holes with the rest of the field trying to chase him down not exactly knowing where [things stood]… That’s the beauty of golf and the beauty of sport… At any given moment you know exactly where you stand… It’s a shame it went down like it did.”Nobilo – “The tournament takes this huge exhale of ‘what’s going on?’ when it had just built to a crescendo. That was right where this tournament should have taken shape, and that’s where you had this huge cloud. You should know in our sport, it’s a penalty or it’s not a penalty. Right then and there. [The application of the rule] lacked consistency today.”Nobilo – “I’m not asking for a knee jerk reaction, but you don’t’ come seven holes later and say ‘we’re not sure’. Because obviously they weren’t sure [when it took place].”Chamblee – “While I get the inconvenience of it, the situation demands a decision now because it affects the strategy. But where there is a potential for conflicting evidence, the committee doesn’t have that luxury.”Chamblee – “[Had the penalty affected the final outcome], if I would have been Dustin I would have refused to sign my scorecard. Because that’s inequity.”Chamblee – “What evidence the USGA committee was looking at, to even hint that there was wrong doing here [by Johnson] is beyond my scope to understand.”Nobilo ­ “We are at a time in our sport, we’ve sort of been heading toward a cliff so to speak where the next steps that we make in this game are sort of important… Maybe we should use some of these measurable devices to say that we actually do have limits so that these great courses never become obsolete.”

Jeff Hall, Managing Director, Rules & Competions, USGA on-set speaking on the rulingJeff Hall – “When discussing with [Dustin] on the 12th tee, he was focused on addressing the ball, which he had not done. But the grounding of the club next to the ball is a consideration in Rule 18. And I don’t think he equated the two. And once it became apparent on the tee that we weren’t going to be able to get over that hump, we alerted Dustin that we were concerned about what we saw and that there could be a penalty. We thought it was only fair to let him know that, and that we would like him to see what we saw.”